Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing Intensive Courses Frequently Asked Questions
1. How are writing activities defined for Writing Intensive (WI) courses?
Any evaluated written work that relates to student learning in the course that aligns with writing intensive and course learning outcomes. WI courses usually include both informal and formal writing assignments including but not limited to journals, reading responses, research findings, reports and planning documents, digital forums and communications, creative writing, blogs, letters, and in-class writing activities aimed at preparing students to strengthen their critical thinking and communication skills.
Additionally, Itani (2024) states, “Higher education institutions should therefore prioritize the development of students’ writing skills across these various platforms to prepare them for the modern workforce.”
“Creating learning assignments that ask students to design texts in a variety of forms and modes gives them a chance to take advantage of preferred approaches to learning” (Pandey, & Khadka, 2021, p. 266)
2. Does writing support learning for undergraduate students?
According to Malakeh Itani (2024), a “writing program in universities can help students build expertise, confidence, and a strong professional portfolio that can advance their future careers to greater heights. This is achieved through a curriculum directly connected to the industry of the students’ disciplines, expert instructors providing extensive feedback, and tips to transform ideas and knowledge into professional writing pieces.”
“These programs [writing intensive] help improve student performance on course assignments and foster the development of a thorough understanding of subject matter” (Itani, 2024, p. 107)
3. Do writing-intensive courses improve student writing skills?
Itani (2024) highlights previous research in disciplines from journalism and healthcare to STEM and business, all suggesting that writing intensive courses lead to improvement in student writing.
The research summarized highlights the importance of teaching writing in higher education institutions to develop students’ communication and critical thinking skills, [...]. Writing allows students to organize their thoughts and present complex ideas in a clear and concise manner [...]. Active and transformative learning approaches can also be integrated into the curriculum
to help students apply their knowledge to real-world problems and create social impact. (Itani, 2024, p. 118)
4. Why does WI include the advancement of racial equity and social justice?
In alignment with Equity 2030, Destination 2030 and the Association for Writing Across the Curriculum (AWAC), students need to be prepared to engage in a diverse world that recognizes and respects cultural and linguistic uniqueness (Smith, 2021). Students should be provided with opportunities to learn from and about diverse scholars in their fields and provided opportunities to engage in self-reflection related to cultural humility and awareness of conscious and unconscious bias (Smith). “Asking students to demonstrate learning in one standard academic form is problematic and ableist” (Pandey, & Khadka, 2021).
AWAC “recognizes that writing programs and pedagogy can play a problematic role in the perpetuation of systematic oppression for BIPOC students. AWAC urges WAC scholars, administrators, and practitioners to call immediate attention to structures of systematic oppression in their home programs; and, wherever possible, advocate for anti-racist practices and pedagogies.” (https://wacassociation.org/resource/awac-statement-and-resources-for-wac-antiracism-and-social-justice/)
Studies have highlighted how everyday context plays a significant role in how BIPOC students navigate and negotiate their racial and linguistic identities through multiple spaces (Baker-Bell, 2020). Traditional approaches to language education in Western universities have historically marginalized, dehumanized, and silenced non-English or non-mainstream English-speaking BIPOC students that have had negative consequences on their sense of self and identity (Condon and Ashanti-Young, 2017). There is an intentional need to recognize and acknowledge the linguistic diversity of students in our writing classrooms and develop pedagogy and assessments that focus on a linguistic and racial justice framework. Anti-racist framework and pedagogies question existing structures and systems embedded in curricular approaches and practices of teaching writing in the academia (Inoue, 2017)
5. What professional development is available to support faculty in teaching WI courses?
Each semester faculty are provided with professional development to support teaching writing intensive courses which is a priority of the Writing Across the Curriculum Committee and Associate Director.
Examples of programming include:
Summer: Writing Intensive Program
Writing intensive courses is a graduation requirement. Assessment design and writing instruction delivery will be examined through an equity lens in various disciplinary contexts to identify opportunities for adaptation.
Fall/Spring: Addressing Key Issues in Writing Intensive Courses Across the Curriculum
This interactive and collaborative short course certificate program in Fall 2024 is designed to provide support for instructors to develop effective practices--informed by culturally responsive and anti-racist pedagogies--to use writing in their course context. Support will be provided on topics ranging from designing inclusive writing intensive (WI) course syllabus, to building effective and inclusive writing assessments, providing support and feedback to students to improve writing, generating equity, access and belonging through writing intensive courses, etc. In addition to the support provided, participants will be able to share their own valuable teaching strategies and practices in their WI courses with their peers, in a mutually collaborative manner.
